Hydrocarbon-burner.



Patented Sept. 7, 1909. 4 SHEETS-SHEET '1.

teases,

G. E. WHITNEY. HYDROGABBON BURNER.

APPLICATION IiLED AUG. 9, 1900.

Patented Sept. 7, 1909.

4 S HEETS-BHEET 3.

e. E. WHITNEY.

HYDROOAEBON BURNER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 9. 1900 Om 0 9 1 7. b p e S w n m D1 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

- ing description, in connection with the ac-' conipanyingdrawings, is a specification, like qonrrn era-a Faith,"

*- s ren.

'GEORGE E. WHITNEY, 0F. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO STANLEY MOTOR CARRIAGE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHU- snares.

HYDROCARBON-BURNER.

Patented Sept. '7, 1on9.

Application filed August 9, 1900. Serial No. 26332.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. WHITNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in -I-lydrocarbon-Burners, of which the followcharacters on the drawings representing like parts. i v This invention relates to that class of steam generators wherein the heat is provided by the combustion of suitable liquid fuel, such as gasolene, naphtha, etc., and it has for its general object the improvement in effectiveness of the 'heating neans for such apparatus, whereby the use of the same is inadeconvenient, safe, and highly efficient.- 1

One of the particular objects of iny invention is to provide means for readily lighting the burner of the generator when all,

parts thereof are cold, Without the aid of extraneous heat, obtainedfronialcohol, raw oil, etc., to primarily heat the burner or any of the parts thereof, as is now the. general practice.

Another object of my invention is to provide novel means for readily lighting the burner when the steam generator is hot, as for instance, after steam has been raised. and the burner has been temporarily shut ofi.

Various other objects of my invention,

and novel features thereof, will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

My presentinvention is particularly well adapted for use in connection with motor vehicles, .as will be manifest hereinafter, and I have herein illustrated my invention as applied to such a vehicle, but I wish it to be understood that it is not in any sense restricted to such employment or use.

F igiire 1 represents inside elevation a steam generator apparatus embodying one form of my invention, illustrated in connection with the body of a motor vehicle, the body being for the most part shown in longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a top or plan view of the apparatus shown in F 1, the top or cover of the water tank being partly broken out, and the vehicle body partly in section. Fig. 3 is a dian'ietral sectional view, enlarged, through the avatar leg and combustion chamber of the boiler, showing tlie burner, vaporizer and other features to be referred to. Fig. 4:. is a View principally in section, of

the fuel controlling devices, on the line a:-:v,

Fig. 5, looking to and the righhand showing the automatic regulator applied thereto.

ting the automatic regulator, the injector 7 Valve-stems being shown in section, and Fig.

6 is a left hand end elevation, al enlarged, of the fuel controlling dev ce shown in Fig. 5.

in order to clearly understand the practical embodiment of my invention herein illustrated certain details of construction will be shown and described which form the subject matter of'claiins in another application filed by me and hereinafter referred to, and any suitable burner may be employed instead of the one herein shown, my. present invention, 7 5. While relating to the burner and ad acent parts of theapparatus, not being-dependent upon any particular type thereof.

I have herein chosen to illustrate my invention iiiconiiection with a boiler similar to that shown in United States Patent No. 601,218, granted to me Mar. 22, 1898, the engine being mounted on the boiler, Fig. 1, the combustion clianibei-B, see Fig.3, be-

ing formed by the double walls 7), b, constihaving upright fire tubes or flues b opening at their lower ends into the combustion chamber, substantially as in said patent. The bottom of the said chamber is herein formed bytlie top plate (Z of a distributing chamber D, having a bottom plate J, from 9 which chambe. he combustible gas is distributed to the burners D mounted in said plates d, J. A door Fig. l, in the side wall of the chamber C alfords access to the interior thereof, the boiler preferably bemg surrounded by a su table casing or acket,

B. and herein illustrated as mounted on the body M" of the vehicle.

A water supply tank or receptacle W is shown on the i'ezi."portioii of the vehicle body. and l have shown an air-tight fuel tank F in the 'watei' receptacle, preferably made cylindrical in shape, and so arranged 21% asses:

as to be more or less submerged in the water,

a suitable filling opening F", Fig. 2, being provided.

A long t he bottom of the fuel tank it arrange a longitudinal pipe f, having a series of line perforations f therein, this foraminous pipe -.hiele body, a suitable check valve f being liquid therein.

located in'the pipe f between the receiver and fuel tank, said pipe leading out through the water tank.

An air pump l of any desirable construction has its eductionpipe 7') leading to the receiver F, the pump being actuated by a foot lever 7) and segn'ient 7.) working in a rack 72 forming a part of the piston rod of the pump, a spring a moving the piston in one direction, but any other form oi air compressing device may be used.

It is usual to employ air pressure upon the surface of the fuel in the supply tank to ctlect the eflicicnt feed of liquid fuel to the burner in apparatus of this general type, and particularly in motor vehicles, and in my present invention l utilize this practice, with certain important changes, to effect the initial lighting of the burner and heating of the parts adjacent thereto before turning on the normal fuel. supply. I prefer to employ an air receiver or reservoir between the pump and the fuel tank, as by so doing the requisite air pressure for feed and other purposes to be described is attained and held with more infrequent pumping. The air under pressure is thus admitted to the tank F at or near the bottom, in the form of line sprays or jets, the bubbles rising through the liquid hydrocarbon in the tank and becoming impregnated or enr ch With the gas therefron'i, forming readily combustible mixture of air and gas lighter than the oil, and which rises and accumulates at the top of the fuel. tank-above the surface oithe From at or near the top of the tanlca pipe 7 leads to the burner, a valve wntrolling the passage ofthe combustible vapor therethrough, and this latter, which will burn readily, matter how cold the burner or adjacent parts, is led to the burner, as will be described, and when lighted soon heats the burner and adjacei'it parts, sufiiciently to permit the regular fuel. feed to be turned on, the starting vapor being then shut oil. By such arrangement no alcohol, crude oil, or other inflammable substance is used extranemisly as a preliminary to the regular operation of the burner, nor is any auxiliary and removable heater employed, coi'isequently the safety and case of operation of the apparatus is greatly enhanced, while the convenience and rapidity of manipulaetting up steam is very much. in-

creasech Inasmuch as the air pressure is always available, by the use of a receiver, as described, the proper feeding pressure upon the fuel in the tank is maintained when the burner is operi-iting normally, after the flow of gas from the tank to the burner has been shut oil", it being manifest that the feeding pressure is the same whether the air is admitted above or below the liquid in tank F. v I

As shown in Fig. 3, an air chamber A is formed below the distributing chamber by a plate a, havingapertures a therein,

v the apertures being regulated as to size by a shutter a. Pure air enters chamber IV and passes to the burnersl), and thence to th combustion chamber E, while the combustible mixture of liquid fuel and air enters the distributing chamber D, substantially as shown and described in another application Se. No. 706253, filed by me the 20th day of l ebruary, 1899. As in saidapplication, a sub-chamber'or heater H is made in the chamber D, whnh at its outer end is arranged to receive air and an injector K, Fig. l, of

the pilot light or torch to be referred to, the part of the plate a? which forms the top of,

the heater being perforated to permit the escape of the combustible from the heater to the combustion chamber ll, this gas being readily ignited by means of alighted me oh or torch.

A fuel teed pipe 6 leads from at or near the bottom of the fuel. tank .1 to the burner, but this pipe is arranged to be heated by the fluid contents of the generator or boiler when such contents are heated, to more or less thoroughly vaporize the liquid fuel be- I fore it reaches the burner, and to this end the uipe is carried through the outer Wall 5 of t,. e water leg, at 0 Fig. 2, in the present embodiment of my invention, and around the combustion chamber between the walls of the water. leg, as at a, Figs. 2 and 3, and then out again, at c the pipe passing through the upper portion of the water leg. A preferably larger tube E is extended through the combustion chamber, as best shown in Fig. 3, just above the-heater H, and connected by a suitable couplingc and bend a with the end of the fuel feed pipe at c", the tube it constitdtii'ig a vaporizer, to thoroughly vaporize the li uid fuel before its delivery to the burner,,w ien the apparahas is in complete OPGIPUOH, the vaporizer completing the auxiliary vaporization instituted by the part c of the feed pipe, a valve c Fig 2, controlling the exit or fuel from the tank F, the vaporizer bein: exposed to the intense heat'in the combustion chamberthe esaesa chamber may fall to suchan extent that the fuel. will not be sufiiciently vaporized in the vaporizer, even though there be'steam or very hot water still in the boiler, when it 1s 5 desired to. start up again. At such time the auxiliary vaporizer e is utilized to vaporize sutiicient fuel to start the burners again, ad vantage being taken of the very slow rate of cooling of steam and hot water in the boiler. Upon shutting off the burner and after the vehicle has stood long enough to permit steam to disappear, the water in the boiler which retains its heat even after steam has disappeared, then constitutes a heater for the'plpe or conduit, 6', or a means for supplying heat to said pipe or condu1t, 1ndependent of the burner but of. course receiving its heat primarily "therefrom, this heater or heating means consisting of a substance that absorbs and retains heat and which is adapted to maintain fluid brought niinclose )roximity or contact to it, such as the liqufd fuekini the said pipe 6, in the vaporized conditioire'v after the cooling 1:25 or disappearance ofsteWhng fl of parts of the apparatus other t1 said heater or heating means.

The user of a .motor vehlcle very often finds it necessary or desirable to make a stop 130 of considerable duration, and it is not economy to keep up even a low fire, nor is it cOllVelllellt or safe to use ar extraneous heater to vaporize some of the fuel when he is again ready to start off. By ineans of the features of my invention hereinbefore described, such stops can be made as often as desired, the fuel being completelylshut 0H, and when it is desired to light up again, so long as the boiler contents are hot, the vap- 40 orizing action of such contents will. be suf-' ficieut to provide vaporized fuel for starting the burner. If the stop has been so long that the boiler and contents are cold, as well. as all parts ofthe bnrner, then the combusti- 4 ble gas from the fuel supply tank will be used for the initial heating'of the burner and adjacent parts ofthe apparatus, as at such time this gris is directed into the heater H, as will be described, so that the vaporizer E is rapidly heated to a temperature high enough to vaporize the fuel led thereintofrom the supply tank F by the pipe 6, it be-t ing remembered that the delivery end of the vaporizer is, directly above and closely adjacent to the perforated top of the heater H, seeFigs. 2 and 3. The fuel controlling devicewill now be described, and referr ng to Figs. ,3, 4, 5 and 6, a casting C is attached to the exterior of e water leg, said casting having a threaded chamber 0 into which the outer end of the Vaporizer E is screwed, the chamber 0 communicating by a )assage 1: with a chamber in a part C" of the casting, said chamber outer end by a screw plug 2, the F 1eeve a- 'ing to remove. the obstruction with .moving either the valve or itsaseata 'havi'no its valve controlled by a stem 7:

having a threaded hub of which is connectedto the'gas pipe f described. The bottom of the chamber 0 is drilled to receive a hollow sleeve c, see Fig. 4 and dotted lines Figs-5 and 6, having at its upper end an annular, internally conical valve seat ofl the lower closed end of the sleeve being secured to or forming part of a spindle 11 which is extended through a gland c mountedon the lower end of the part C of the casting, the lower end of the sleeve being seated'in the part O, the latter having a lateral duct or passage 0 drilled thereinto'and closed ,atits intersecting the duct and having openings to communicate therewith! A handlewj-bn c the projecting end-of the spindle "0, .provides for partial rotation thereof, to clear any sli ht obstruction which willprevent the valve from firmly seating on the valve seat a), a relative rot-ative movement of valve and seat, as herein provided for, generally sez part 0 of the casting is offset at its lower end and downwardly extended to form a, de'sg pending foot C connected 'bya lateral,

branch C 'about m-idway between ,itsds with a downward extension- Q? of 'th aln part C of the casting, the -Xtens1on *6 being drilled to form a passage '2?? communicating with the chamber c',- .said passage" being closed at itslower end by a screw plug 13. A nozzle ontheextension G communicates with the passage a", forming an injector K, Fig. 4;, which enters the heater 10m ortorch H, described, this injector being always in communication with the chambers 0" and c, and hence. through the, latter with I the gas pipe A suitable valve for the injector K is controlled by a stem It, passing through a suitable stuffing box it. Two 1on gitudinal passages c ,.c ,-are made in the branch C the'former closed at its ends by screw plugs 12, as herein shown, and two injector nozzlescommunieate with the passage c, one of the injectors being shown at K Fi 6, its valve being controlled by a suitstem W, the other injector K Fig. 3, i

bent dhct or passage 0 0 in the partC and foot C resp'e ctively, are formed by drilling and the ends are closed by screw plugs 7 and i 10 respectively,'the passage communicating with the' passage c so that the injectors" K K communicate with the chamber 0" 1 by the d'uctsa, 0 wands, and through the valve seat sleeve 1). Gommunic ation be- I tween the Vaporizer E", which opens into the chamber c, and said sleeveis controlled, howwer, by a valvew, which is automatically-regulated, will be described, so that the supply of fuel is governed by or through boiler pressure rises above a in eases 1- sure falls below the desired oint. The burner have become heated sulllciently to working injectors, K K as they may be termed, open into air inlets or mixing tubes which enter the chamber D, one at each side of the heate1',as in my application referred to, one of said. inlets D being shown in .tull lines l ig. '3, a jet of gas being iniected (ii rectl'y into each tube, uncler pressure.

The device for automatically regulating the supply of fuel to the learner in accordance with boiler pressure 1s..best illustrated in Fig; 4:, and it comprises a case M having an attached cap M provided with a hollow A boss m screwed into the top of the chamber a, the stem '22" of a valve 0 extending through the lows, so that the valve cooperates with the valve seat '0", described A flexible diaphlegm ll/l securely held between the case M and cap M", has suitably attached to it the valve stem 1;", a cylinder head on the opposite side of the diaphragm being connected to the latter, a cylinder m loosely I held in the case M being attached to the head m, while the closed upper end of the cylinder has loosely extended through it a rod we headed at its inner end, at of, and threaded at its upper end, as at m to engage a threaded hole in the topof the case M, as inmy application hereinbeiore referred to,

check nut m preventing accidental movement of the rod. A strong spring 5 within the .nd.er is interposed between the upper end 22' of the latter and the head m of the rod, tending to lift the valve 0) from seat,

' and a pipe m communicates with the steam into the case ll'l on the spring side of the diaphragm, so the boiler pressure acts on the dia 'ihragm inogyposition to the action of the spring. W hen the pressure in the boiler overcomes the spring tension the valve is more or less closed to shut off communication between the chamber a and the burner injcctors. When boiler pressure falls below the desired point the spring S causes the valve o to open, admitting more fuel from the chamber a" to the injectors and thence to the burner.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that while the supply of fuel to the Working injectors K K is always under space of the boiler and lea "s the control of the automatic regulator the pilot injector K is not so controlled, and fuel can be supplied to the latter even though the valve w is seated, thus making provision for a constantly acting injector if desired. This injector can be operated either with fuel from the tank F, vaporized either by the main or auxiliary vaporizer described, or it can be used with the combustible gas drawn from the upper part of the fuel l anl-r'when starting the apparatus, all the parts being cold; the heating of the main vaporizer E M l'xeater or torch ll, through the action the pilot it, being very rapid.- In pracuce the is shut oil after the parts of the permit of the use of the liquid fuel in the normal manner.

W hen there is steam in the boiler I may heat the casting C C to vaporize. some of the fuel sufiiciently to start the apparatus,

and to this end I connect one end of the passage 0 with-the steam space of the boiler by 31'1Q?LllS'0f a pipe 0", having a suitable valve the other end of the passage 0 being provided with a blow-oil nozzle 0* and controlling valve 0 operated by a handle c. The valve opened, and also valve 1;, and steam passes through the passsage c gheating the branch G, very rapidlgc sufiiciently to vaporizcthe licu'id fuel it latter is permitted loentei' said passage to that no extraneous heat such by burning;

alcohol, etc, 'in a pan under the branch and the working injectors is necessary. instead of leading the pipe 0 to the steam space it could connnunicate with the water in the boiler and operate precisely described, the

"hung lri or anodilicatirnis would fall /Vlllllll l: x spirit and scope oi? any invention.

llavino' lully (lestu'ibecl my invention, what l claim and desire to secini'e by Lell'ers Pat out, isz--- 1. in an apparatus of the class described,

a 11min burner and its liquid fuel supply conduit healed thereby, combined with a torch also to {apifly heat to a portion of said conduit, a branch connecting said conduit With said torch, and means to apply heat thereto a source of gaseous supply for said torch, auduneans to supply the latter from said source, said several means of sustaining the torch 'l'lun'ie being available separately, as desired.

2, in an apparatus (51' tneclass (WSCK'ilJQ-tl, a main burner and aliquid fuetsupply conduit therefor and to be heated thereby combined with a lighting torch connected with and to be sufiplied also from said conduit and arranged a so, to heat a portion of the latter to uipoi-ize the conlcni's incl-cot, a source of steam supply and means to conduct steam to the vicinity of said torch for vaporizing the liquid fuel supplied thereto for initial lighting of the torch, and a source of gaseous supply for said torch and llHPilllF-"(Ll MUD-2 in} .lhe hitter tron said source, as desired.

esaeea 3. A steam generator, a combustion chamber therefor provided With liquid fuel burning means, a fuel vaporizer Within the chamher, a fuel supply-tank, a pipe connecting it with the vaporizer and arranged to derive vaporizing heat fromthe contents of the generator When hot, and means to operate the fuel. burning means by gas derived from the supply tank when the apparatus is cold.

4. A steam generator, means, including a vaporizer and pilot lighting and worlzing injectors, to heat the same by combustion of liquid fuel, a closed fuel-supply tank connected with the vaporizer, the pilot injector being at all times operatively connected with the vaporizer and serving to light said co1nbustion means, means to operate the said injector by inflan'nnable gas from the fuel supply tank, and independent means to utilize boiler heat to vaporize the fuel adjacent the injectors when the vaporizer is inactive.

5. A steam generator, means to heat the same by the combustion of liquid fuel, including main and auxiliary Vaporizers for the latter, the former operating by the heat of combustion and the latterby heat. derived from the contents of the generator, atanli for the liquid fuel, connected w th the Vaporizers,

means to effect. feeding pressure for the fueland to generate an inflammable gas in the tank, means to utilize such gas to initially vaporize a portion of the fuel when the apparatus is cold, and a device to vaporize fuel independently of the Vaporizers by the contents of the generator when hot. I

6. In an apparatus of the class described a main burner, its liquid fuel supply conduit and a vaporizer therein combined with a torch to supply heat to said va orizer, means to supply said torch with fuel 'rom said vaporizer, means to supply carbureted air to said torch for initial lighting, and means independent of the said vaporizer to vaporize liquid fuel and supply the latter in gaseousform to said torch.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE E. W'HITNEY. Witnesses JOnN C. EDWARDS, 'LAUnA P. MANIX. 

